Infrastructure Minister Sunil Lamsal: Korala Road is Government's High Priority

Mustang. Minister for Physical Infrastructure Sunil Lamsal has said that the Korala road is the government's high priority. Mentioning that the budget has been allocated for the Chusang-Ghami road, he clarified that the Ghami-Korala road up to the border will be asphalted as soon as possible.

During a discussion at the office of the Kaligandaki Corridor (Beni-Jomsom-Korala) road project, Minister Lamsal pledged not to let the Korala road project face a budget shortage. Inspecting the Korala road project, Minister Lamsal stayed in Letang, Mustang on Friday.

Emphasizing the need to complete the Korala road, which connects north and south, as soon as possible, he instructed that the contract for asphalting the road up to the Korala border should be opened this year and if the environmental assessment has not been done, it should be expedited. He stated that the ministry will facilitate wherever there is a problem.

Minister Lamsal said that the relevant bodies will be called to the ministry to find a conclusion to remove the obstacles in asphalting the Korala road. He clarified that since the cooperation of the concerned local levels has already been received for extending the asphalting up to the Korala border, there is no place to get stuck now. He stressed the need to complete the Korala road under the Kaligandaki Corridor by opening tenders for all necessary infrastructure including roads and bridges this year.

Instructing the project, Minister Lamsal said, 'You all work with confidence, open tenders if you need to open them, and don't stop due to lack of budget. Cancel the contracts of construction entrepreneurs who are not working and create an environment for those who are working to work quickly.' He directed the project office to determine the subjects that need infrastructure development. The national pride project road connecting to the Korala border will be four lanes in the future, so in areas where there are settlements, the road 

During the inspection of the Myagdi section, he said that if there is a problem in changing the road alignment or widening it sustainably, a diversion should be used to adopt an alternative measure.

In the discussion, Project Chief Tejashwi Sharma informed that there are geographical challenges in the Korala road and the initial Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the Ghami-Korala road is yet to be approved. Former Member of Parliament Prem Prasad Tulachan suggested that the government should give high priority to the Mustang-Dolpa road. He pointed out that the Mustang-Dolpa road could not be completed due to the workload of the Road Division Office Dhaulagiri, which has to look after four districts, and the meager budget.